Needham & Company LLC Cuts MP Materials (NYSE:MP) Price Target to $73.00

MP Materials (NYSE:MP) had its price objective decreased by Needham & Company LLC from $81.00 to $73.00 in a research note published on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. Needham & Company LLC currently has a buy rating on the stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on MP. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of MP Materials from $69.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price objective on shares of MP Materials from $70.00 to $61.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of MP Materials from $70.00 to $71.50 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. Citigroup reiterated a “positive” rating on shares of MP Materials in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of MP Materials in a research report on Friday, July 17th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $79.42.

MP Materials Trading Down 7.6%

MP opened at $41.26 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $7.35 billion, a PE ratio of -98.25 and a beta of 1.86. The company has a quick ratio of 6.58, a current ratio of 7.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The business has a 50 day moving average of $56.34 and a 200-day moving average of $58.89. MP Materials has a 52 week low of $41.12 and a 52 week high of $100.25.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.01) by $0.04. MP Materials had a negative net margin of 28.00% and a negative return on equity of 2.27%. The company had revenue of $90.65 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $74.82 million. During the same period last year, the company posted ($0.12) EPS. MP Materials’s revenue was up 49.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that MP Materials will post 0.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, COO Michael Stuart Rosenthal purchased 17,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 20th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $56.62 per share, with a total value of $962,540.00. Following the acquisition, the chief operating officer directly owned 1,333,673 shares in the company, valued at $75,512,565.26. The trade was a 1.29% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO James H. Litinsky sold 234,651 shares of MP Materials stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.87, for a total transaction of $15,456,461.37. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 11,855,965 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $780,952,414.55. This represents a 1.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 905,167 shares of company stock valued at $60,161,837. 8.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On MP Materials

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Royal Bank of Canada raised its stake in MP Materials by 26.5% during the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 234,185 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,716,000 after buying an additional 49,052 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of MP Materials in the first quarter worth $215,000. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC bought a new stake in shares of MP Materials in the first quarter worth $219,000. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of MP Materials by 4.6% in the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 10,793 shares of the company’s stock worth $265,000 after acquiring an additional 479 shares during the period. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its position in MP Materials by 36.0% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 193,943 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,734,000 after acquiring an additional 51,348 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 52.55% of the company’s stock.

MP Materials Company Profile

MP Materials Corporation operates as a vertically integrated producer of rare earth materials in North America. The company owns and manages the Mountain Pass Rare Earth Mine and Processing Facility in California, the only commercially viable rare earth mining and processing site in the United States. MP Materials extracts, separates and refines critical rare earth elements—such as neodymium, praseodymium, and cerium—which are essential inputs for permanent magnets used in electric vehicles, wind turbines, and various defense applications.

The Mountain Pass mine first began commercial rare earth production in the 1950s and was later operated by Molycorp until its bankruptcy in 2015.